You have heard me mention Earl Nightingale and “The Strangest Secret” before. This morning I thought I would share this excerpt that I received in another email.

For the Mavideans receiving this, email me if you want to know where the entire audio for this is. For the non-Mavideans, go out and find a copy.

The audio recording is one of the most thought provoking things I have ever listened to.

Jake

An excerpt from
The Strangest Secret
by Earl Nightingale

George Bernard Shaw said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”

Well, it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.

Now, it stands to reason that a person who is thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is going to reach it, because that’s what he’s thinking about. And we become what we think about.

Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn’t know where he’s going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety, fear and worry—his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing…he becomes nothing.

How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I’ll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it’s good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care. It’s up to the farmer to make a decision.

We’re comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn’t care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn’t care what you plant.

Now, let’s say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand—one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds—one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land…and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted. As it’s written in the Bible,

“As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Remember, the land doesn’t care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the plants—one corn, one poison. The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn’t care what we plant…success…or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal…or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. But what we plant it must return to us.

You see, the human mind is the last great, unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.

“The presidency has made every man who occupied it, not matter how small, bigger than he was, and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.” – Lyndon B Johnson

Last night was the state of the union address.

While watching the first part of it, I realized something. While I wouldn’t have been standing and cheering for everything the President said, there were plenty of things to stand cheer for.

I would have stood and cheered for the President who goes to sleep each night with the worries and cares of a nation on his shoulders.

I would have stood and cheered for the Commander and Chief and the military men and women he represents.

I would have stood and cheered for the American people, who despite all our faults are still a kind, giving, hard working and creative people.

I would have stood and cheered for Mavidea and how we are a part of the American story in our special way as we chase our dreams of becoming the best.

I would have stood and cheered for each of you and how all your stories, good and bad, are represented in this thing we call America.

As the political season goes into overdrive again with the elections this fall, remember to keep things in perspective a little and try not to get swept up in the negativity. Do your best to become informed and make the best decision for you, but don’t decide out of hatred for one candidate or another. Decide based on hope for a better future.

We live in a great nation and should be proud of that.

Jake

The Three Bricklayers

A story that well summarizes the power of Vision, is the story of three bricklayers. The story goes, that three bricklayers were working side by side.

When asked, “What are you doing?”, the first bricklayer replied:

“I’m laying bricks.”

The second bricklayer was asked. He answered,

“Feeding my family.”

The third bricklayer when asked the question,

“What are you doing?”, responded,

“I’m building a cathedral.”

Yesterday’s email talked about enthusiasm. It’s hard to have enthusiasm without a vision of the future that you are excited about.

When someone asks you what you do for a living, how do you respond?

Do you respond with enthusiasm and an answer with some vision of the future?

And this goes further than what you do for a living.

If someone caught you at home on a Saturday and asked you what you are doing, how would you respond?

Do you have a vision for yourself outside of work? Do you have a vision for your family?

These are some challenging questions and they aren’t easily answered for most of us.

Spend a few minutes today thinking about how you would answer the question “What are you doing?”

Jake

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the best things about working with a group of awesome people every day is the enthusiasm.

Everyone gets excited about some part of their job or something awesome they did for a client.

The MavideaAll emails fly around when someone claims The Rock.

It’s part of what makes Mavidea and each of you special.

Let’s all find ways to show more enthusiasm and encourage the enthusiasm we see in others this week.

Jake

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. – Martin Luther King

Today is Meaghan’s (my wife) birthday.

I found this quote above when looking for something to explain how much of an influence she is/has been on my attempts at building the best Jake I can.

Part of why I can be positive every day is because I have a great marriage.

I know that no matter what I am loved and that the special relationship Meaghan and I have will not be changed in any way regardless of how good or bad of a job I did that day.

There is real freedom in having someone in your life like that.

And it takes a special person to do that, especially when your husband is Jake.

Happy Birthday and Thank You to Meaghan!

I know this song will be on at some point today in our house, so I thought you should get to listen to it once too….

http://youtu.be/ztoSUhbNntQ

Jake

There is one thing that has worried me about sending these every day.

I am a hypocrite.

I am not a perfect embodiment of all the positive things and practices that I espouse in these emails.

Sometimes I lose patience with the kids.

Sometimes I’m not as positive as I should be in my conversations with Meaghan.

Sometimes I set weak sauce goals and don’t meet them.

Sometimes I’m not as smily and happy as I should be.

Sometimes I watch TV instead of reading a book or exercising.

The list could go on and on….

But one day I realized that maybe this is the reason that I should be writing these daily emails. I am just like you. I have my own insecurities and imperfections. I have worries and imperfections just like everyone else.

And that is where I hope that I can add some value to your day by writing these.

My hope is that by articulating my thoughts and my own personal journey towards becoming a better person, you can learn a little bit from me and my mistakes and the lessons I have and will learn in the future.

In the past, I thought of a hypocrite as being the worst kind of person and the kind of person to avoid. Having realized now that I am one, it changes my tune a little (conveniently).

I have come to the conclusion that I am not in charge of worrying about others and whether or not they may or may not be a hypocrite, I am in charge of growing myself into less and less of a hypocrite.

And these emails are about my journey towards becoming that person.

So, have a little patience with us hypocrites…..some of us are working on it.

Jake

It’s all relative.

We hear this all the time. But recently this has taken on a new meaning.

I have been listening to "The Dave Ramsey Show" as one of the podcasts I have subscribed to.

On the show he has people call in and yell out "I’m Debt Free!" and give their story of paying off their personal debt.

Despite the obvious inspiration this provides by making you think that you too can become debt free and start "winning" with money (as Dave calls it), it has an extra element to it that I thought I would share.

Each person has their own story and they vary quite a bit. Some people have paid off $200,000 in debt in one year and make $200,000 a year in income. Others paid off their $2000 credit card balance and make minimum wage.

The lesson I have learned is that "it’s all relative".

The people that have paid a relatively small amount are just as happy to call in as those that have paid off $200,000.

On the show, Dave talks about achieving financial peace and being happy with money.

This is more of an attitude than a dollar amount.

What in your life needs attitude adjustment to achieve peace?

Make it a great day.

Jake